Do you have Amazon Prime? If you do, this one is not for you. Also, if you’ve had Prime in the past, this is also not for you. This is for folks who have never had Amazon Prime before.

If you don’t know what Amazon Prime is, it’s a paid upgrade, basically, that entitles you to free 2-day shipping regardless of order size on thousands of items sold by Amazon. Even though I do a lot of shopping on Amazon, I’ve never signed up for it. I just couldn’t justify the $79 for the year.

But I just signed up, and here’s why: Right now, you can get 3 months of Amazon Prime absolutely free if you put $100 worth of eligible textbooks into your cart. Not if you buy $100 worth of eligible textbooks—just if you add them to your cart. Put $100 of ’em in there, proceed to checkout, and on the last page you’ll be given the option to opt-in to a free 3-month trial of Prime (independent of confirming your purchase). Cancel before your three months are over (or go into your account and just turn off the auto-upgrade) and you’ll never pay a cent for it.

Now, I ask you: What is three months from today? That’s right. Christmas Eve. Your holiday shopping just got a whole lot less stressful.

$79 is a pittance to pay for 2-day shipping to you, your friends and family, wherever they live in the US. We send so many presents to my in-laws and elsewhere at Christmas, and buy so much from Amazon in general, that it works out to pennies per item. Plus: 2-day shipping!

I’m a little amazed that you haven’t Primed up yet. Don’t you buy a ton on Amazon, Mir?

Emily, when you’re checking out, there’s a few sentences in the middle that talk about Amazon Prime and at the end is a hyperling that says “Learn More” – click that to sign up, then come back to your cart and delete the textbook. I had another book that I needed to buy for a quilting class I’m taking, so I did end up buying that one (not a textbook in their eyes) and it went through with AP free 2-day shipping.

We’ve found Amazon Prime to be WELL worth the $79. We started using it a few Christmases ago when they first launched it and gave 3 month trials for free. We intended to cancel after the 3 months was up, but we were so happy with it that we’ve kept it going ever since. Now I can’t imagine going back.

Dumb question: Under my membership information it says “Your trial membership will upgrade to a full membership for $79 automatically on December 24, 2008.” and has a button that says “Do Not Upgrade”. Can I press that and still get the free trial without upgrading or remembering to cancel in December? That sounds too easy. I’m afraid it will cancel the trial or something.

Also, not a question but a reminder – it looks like you can add 4 family members to your membership. You don’t want YOUR Christmas present to be late, do you? I added my husband, just in case.

Thanks for the deal, Mir. I thought nothing in the world could make me happier than free shipping but it turns out free 2 DAY shipping was it!

Oh.. I went for the free month when I was amist school shopping in August. It was sooo AWESOME, yet short lived. 🙁 It was sooo easy to cancel. after my month was up, I was charged, however as long as you have not used the prime since the expiration, your funds are refunded. ENJOY! Maybe one of you can put my orders in and have them shipped to me?? teehee.

Wanna know something funny? I went so overboard last year that I have two huge suitcases full of gifts that were never given LAST Christmas, so I’ll be shopping in my own excess before I hit any stores this year…

A note: I just headed over there and from the Amazon front page, I clicked Amazon Prime in the left sidebar. It took me right to a page that said “sign up for a free 3 month trial” — with no reference to textbooks or anything! I read all the fine print, it’s just the same as what everyone is describing above, and I didn’t even need to bother with adding anything to my cart.

I have, and love, amazon prime. I’m pretty sure I got at least three months free when I signed up without any hoop jumping, but perhaps that has changed. In any case, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Oh, and my 4lbs of cranberries arrived today!

As others have said, Prime is totally worth the $79! Where I live (WI) almost everything I order arrives in only ONE day with the free 2-day shipping. I’ve ordered at 8pm on Monday and it’s arrived by 2pm on Tues. But the absolute longest I have to wait is 2 days. Instant gratification. (And great for last minute gifts)

Oh yay — I just signed my husband up!
And apparently it doesn’t care that I then added myself as a secondary household member, even though I’ve used a trial before. This is just the thing for xmas shopping!! 🙂

Ya know, I was all jazzed about my Amazon prime trial when I got it. Like, super-duper, completely and totally excited. I’ve mostly found it disappointing. Don’t suppose anyone else has had the same issue?

Cool deal. Thanks for the heads’ up.
But like you , I could never justify the cost. Mostly because I usually get 1 day shipping on Amazon orders. I live 1.5 hours from the warehouse in Fernley, Nevada! Sweet, no? Believe me, I was lovin’ it when I would realize I was running out of Pampers and they were on my doorstep the next day.